A GROUP of faculty at the University of the Philippines bewailed the burden carried by teachers who it said were underpaid and overworked.

“The sacrifices attached to the nature of teaching is public knowledge. For example, public school teachers face never-ending paperwork while promotion opportunities are still scarce. Moreover, they spend money—often out of their own pockets – for their students’ needs in the classroom despite their meager salaries,” the Congress of Teachers/Educators for Nationalism and Democracy or CONTEND said in a statement.

“Yet these teachers often have no choice but apply for loans in order to grapple with the soaring costs of goods and services,” the group added.

Teachers in state universities and colleges also carry the burden of budget cuts, the group said.

“As a result, even the country’s premier state university, the University of the Philippines, is plagued by a lack of plantilla faculty items, inadequate salaries and benefits, and substandard facilities. In fact, this explains the contractualization of teachers, as indicated by the sharp rise of non-tenure-track instructors, lecturers, teaching assistants, and other faculty,” it said.

The group also said that teachers, especially in higher education, are being red-tagged and forced out of employment for upholding critical thinking in the classroom.

“Just what kind of students would we have under the tutelage of teachers who are overworked, underpaid, and red-tagged?” It said.